Horse Racing in China

Horse racing in China: what exists today

For most of the past seventy years, there has been no horse racing to speak of on the Chinese mainland. After 1949, racing was banned as a decadent, corrupting leftover of the colonial era, and gambling in all its forms was outlawed, with Macau as the only exception⁴.

That long pause was briefly interrupted in 2008, when a government-controlled trial of "commercialized" horse racing ran at Wuhan. It featured four races and, remarkably, allowed people on the mainland to bet on horse racing for the first time since 1949, as one racing publication put it, "able to bet (sort of) on horse racing for the first time since 1949"⁵. No dates were ever announced for live racing with betting after that single day, and the experiment quietly ended⁵.

Earlier attempts had already come and gone:

• The Guangzhou Racecourse ran race meetings in the 1990s but stopped in 1999, mainly because racing never obtained legal status, and a 1992 notice from the authorities had already banned gambling-style horse racing activities nationwide⁶
• A Beijing-area track at Tongshun briefly operated a betting window in 2005, selling RMB 10 tickets on broadcast races between 13:00 and 16:00 daily, and one bettor there reportedly won RMB 1 million, though the operation sat in a legal gray zone⁷
• A mainland racecourse described as the only one with a betting character drew similar scrutiny before it too faded⁸

What exists today is different in kind: a purpose-built, international-standard thoroughbred racecourse at Conghua, operated by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, hosting regular race meetings as a sport with no betting element at all. Mainland press confirmed that regular speed horse racing would officially begin there at the end of October 2026, marking the first regularly held international-level thoroughbred racing events in mainland China⁹. For betting on horses, the venues are still Sha Tin Racecourse and Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong.

Conghua Racecourse

Conghua Racecourse is a Hong Kong Jockey Club facility in Conghua, a district of Guangzhou in Guangdong province. Mainland press confirmed that regular racing would officially begin there at the end of October 2026, the first regularly held international-level thoroughbred racing in mainland China⁹.

The venue was not built overnight. It first appeared on the racing calendar in March 2019 with an Exhibition Race Day, a showcase of five races held without any betting³. That day gave the public a first look at what the Club had in mind: full-scale racing, professional jockeys and thoroughbreds, but strictly as spectacle rather than wagering. The Club's training center at the site has since been a base for Hong Kong horses, and the racecourse itself now joins Sha Tin and Happy Valley as the third venue in the Club's racing portfolio¹¹.

If you want the full detail on the venue, its race days and what a visit involves, see our in-depth page on Conghua Racecourse, which covers everything summarized here in greater depth.

Regular racing at Conghua: dates and season

The 2026-27 racing season is set to include four race meetings at Conghua Racecourse¹:

Getting to this point took longer than planned. The Club originally intended to hold its first regular race meeting in April 2026¹². That opening was pushed back six months to October 2026, with reports tying the delay to adverse weather conditions affecting preparation of the site³. Then, in September 2026, the Club announced that the world-class racing event planned for October would be postponed again, after a risk assessment by mainland authorities¹³. As of this writing, the October 31 date remains the first tentative fixture of the season, though the earlier postponements are a reminder that these dates can move¹.

The plan itself has been firm for years. The Club stated as far back as 2021 that Conghua would host regular racing from 2025¹⁴, later refined to the 2025/2026 season, before the schedule settled on 2026¹⁴. If you are planning a trip around a specific meeting, check the Club's official race announcements close to the date, since the fixture list has shifted more than once.

No betting at Conghua races

The single most important thing to know before you go: there is no betting at Conghua. The Hong Kong Jockey Club has confirmed that no betting services will be offered at Conghua races², and press coverage of the plan has been explicit that regular racing at Conghua will carry no betting component¹⁵. The same was true of the 2019 Exhibition Race Day, where no wagering was available³.

For comparison, betting at the Club's Hong Kong venues operates under different rules entirely: no one under 18 may place a bet, and no credit betting is allowed¹⁶. Those rules apply in Hong Kong, not at Conghua. Our page on HKJC horse race betting explains how wagering works at Sha Tin and Happy Valley, and our guide to gambling in China covers what is and is not permitted on the mainland.

Broadcast delays and the illegal betting concern

One unusual feature of Conghua race days: the broadcasts will reach wider audiences on a delay. Conghua races will be televised to a broader viewership, but the broadcast will run behind the live action, a measure aimed at reducing illegal betting risk¹⁵.

The concern behind this is real. Illegal betting on sport, especially football, is widespread in China despite being a criminal offense, as official media reiterated in August 2026¹⁷. Authorities warned during the 2026 World Cup period that:

• Online football betting is illegal¹⁸
• Even small bets are illegal¹⁹
• Online betting violates both the Public Security Administration Punishment Law and the Criminal Law²⁰

A delayed broadcast makes it harder for underground operators to run live pools on a race whose result is already known inside the venue.

For you as a viewer, the practical effect is simple: if you watch a Conghua meeting on television or online from outside the track, you will see the action slightly after it happens. Inside the racecourse, you see it live.

Getting there: location and travel from Sha Tin

Conghua Racecourse sits about 150 kilometers north of the Hong Kong mainland border, in the Guangzhou area¹². It is not a quick hop from Hong Kong: driving from Sha Tin Racecourse takes about three hours³.

One quirk of the location is that the racecourse lies within a military no-fly zone, which adds constraints on how the site can be used and covered³. There is no dedicated high-speed rail station at the gate, so most visitors from Hong Kong should expect a road journey, whether by private car, coach or a combination of rail to Guangzhou and road for the final stretch. If you are coming from elsewhere in Guangdong, the drive from central Guangzhou is considerably shorter than the trip from the border.

For a first visit, build the day around the journey. A race meeting plus a three-hour drive each way from Sha Tin is a full-day outing, so check the tentative fixture dates¹ and the Club's final announcements before committing.

Facilities and grandstand

The public grandstand at Conghua was scheduled for completion in November 2025, in time for the first regular season³. That means the 2026-27 meetings are the first to be held with the finished spectator facilities in place, rather than the temporary arrangements of the 2019 Exhibition Race Day.

The venue is built to international standard, as befits the first mainland home of regular international-level thoroughbred racing⁹. Expect the structure of a modern race day:

• A parade ring and viewing terraces
• Food and drink concessions
• The pageantry the Hong Kong Jockey Club brings to its Hong Kong meetings, minus the betting windows

The Club's own materials highlight the Exhibition Race Day as a preview of the experience²¹. Dress codes at Hong Kong racecourses tend to be relaxed in general admission and smarter in members' and premium areas; check the specific meeting's arrangements before you go, since Conghua's entry rules are set by the Club and mainland requirements together.

Conghua and the Hong Kong racing triangle

The Club's long-term vision, stated when the project was confirmed, is that Conghua will hold regular race meetings from the 2025/2026 season onward, forming a "triangle" of racecourses with Sha Tin and Happy Valley¹⁴. In other words, Hong Kong racing will no longer be confined to Hong Kong: the circuit will run across the border, with Conghua as the mainland leg.

This is a genuinely new arrangement. Hong Kong residents and visitors can now plan a racing season that includes a mainland meeting, something impossible for over seventy years⁴. Mainland residents, for their part, get world-class racing in their own country for the first time on a regular schedule, though without the betting that defines the Hong Kong product².

The triangle also matters for the sport's economics. Conghua has served as a training base for Hong Kong horses, and regular racing there strengthens the whole operation. Whether the fixture list grows beyond four meetings a season¹ will depend on how the first season goes, and given the postponements already weathered³, the Club and the mainland authorities are clearly taking the rollout carefully.

For the wider picture of what you can and cannot do in mainland China, see our guides to gambling in China, sports betting in China and gambling in China as a visitor.